Iowa State Falls to Colorado in NCAA First Round

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – The Iowa State volleyball team saw its season come to an end Friday evening in the first round of the NCAA Volleyball Championship. The Cyclones fell to Colorado 3-1 (25-17, 16-25, 19-25, 21-25) Friday evening in the Sports Pavilion. Iowa State closes out the season with an 18-10 record. Colorado improved to 18-13 on the season and will play the winner of Radford-Minnesota, which was being played at release time.

Turning Point of the MatchThe serving of CU’s Kelsey English buried Iowa State in the second set. After taking the first set 25-17, the Cyclones were trailing 9-7 in the second frame when Colorado went on a 7-0 run powered by the English serve, which included two aces. Iowa State tried to get back into the second frame, but a 4-0 run featuring an English kill and two more English aces.

Cyclone Match Ball Goes to…Tory Knuth. The final match of the Cyclones’ season showed how much the middle blocker progressed in her redshirt sophomore season. Knuth led the Cyclones with 11 kills at a .333 hitting percentage, the fifth time in the last 10 matches she has recorded double-figure kills. The Big 12’s top server, Knuth added an ace to her collection and also chipped in a solo block and a block assist.

Cyclone Notes*Iowa State finishes the season with an 18-10 record.*The loss marked only the second time in Iowa State’s nine all-time NCAA Championship appearances that the Cyclones failed to win a match in the tournament.*Ciara Capezio, Taylor Goetz, Morgan Kuhrt and Natalie Vondrak all appeared in their career NCAA Championship matches.*Jenelle Hudson set a career high with six kills. She had five twice (at Oklahoma, Oct. 5 and Kansas Nov. 20).*Kristen Hahn recorded 20 digs, marking her 49th career match with at least 20 digs.*Hahn ends her career with a streak of 68-straight matches with at least 10 digs.*Ciara Capezio recorded her eighth double-double of the season with her 10 kills and 11 digs.*Tory Knuth had her sixth match of the season with at least 10 kills as she paced the Cyclones with 11.